Modern automotive vehicles typically employ instrument panels assemblies including instrument panels and instrument clusters that house various vehicle instruments such as speedometer, tachometer, and odometer. The instrument panel is often provided with additional garnish pads or components which attach to the instrument panel to provide a pleasant aesthetic appearance to the instrument panel. By attaching the garnish pad to the instrument panel, the instrument panel assembly can be formed from a variety of materials.
In previously known instrument panels the garnish pad was formed of a solid rigid material along with the instrument panel itself. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, if the garnish pad 110 was formed with any deviation in dimensions, such as being formed shorter than the required dimensions, a gap G resulted from the attachment of the garnish pad 110 and the instrument panel 120. As such the instrument panel assembly 100 had a diminished appearance due to the gap G. Further, if the garnish pad 110 was formed longer than the required dimensions, the attachment results in a crease or wrinkle formed at the contact between the garnish pad 110 and the instrument panel 120.
Thus, there exists a need in the art to provide an instrument panel assembly having a garnish pad and instrument panel which are capable of absorbing deviations and variations in the garnish pad to provide a continuous connection between the garnish pad and instrument panel.